Prosecutors in Indonesia are examining online video comments by a U.S. woman jailed for 10 years over the 2014 murder of her mother on the resort island of Bali to decide if they justify a stiffer sentence, authorities said on Monday.
Heather Mack, originally from Chicago, was tried and convicted alongside then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer in the murder of her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in a taxi outside a luxury hotel.
In the video uploaded to Youtube on Feb. 2, Mack speaks to the camera, saying she initially asked Schaefer to find someone to kill her mother, but he refused.
"I don't regret killing my mother ... but I regret bringing Tommy into it. Tommy is an innocent man," she says.
It was unclear when or where the video was recorded.
A lawyer for Mack said she had been pressured into making the confession video.
"We suspect Tommy's motivation is to attack Heather after they broke up," the lawyer, Ben Seran, told Reuters.
Schaefer's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors were studying the video, said Ashari Kurniawan, a public relations official in the Bali prosecutor's office.
"If Mack is indeed the mastermind of the murder, the video can be used as evidence in the case, and the sentence should be heavier than it is now," he said.
Mack and her mother, who had a troubled relationship, had traveled together to Bali in August 2014, and were staying at a luxury hotel, the St. Regis Bali resort. Schaefer joined them, surprising von Wiese-Mack, who did not know he was coming to Indonesia.
Schaefer, who said in court he had killed von Wiese-Mack in self-defence, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for premeditated murder.
Mack was convicted of being an being an accessory to murder. She is serving her term in a Bali prison where she gave birth to a daughter just before being sentenced.
In the three-part video, Mack says although Schaefer is innocent, he had helped hide her mother's body in the suitcase.
"I don't want to live in a lie anymore. I made it up in my heart ... that I wanted to kill my mother," she says, adding that she believed her mother had killed her father several years earlier.
Reuters
Mon Feb 06 2017
Heather Mack of the U.S. waits inside a holding cell at a Denpasar court before her court appearance on the Indonesian resort island of Bali April 21, 2015. - REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
UMT bakal miliki rumah alumni bernilai RM2.2 juta
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) merancang memiliki rumah alumni sebagai pusat sehenti, bagi memperkukuh jaringan kerjasama dengan bekas pelajar, industri dan universiti.
Piala Thomas: Pengalaman Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik gagal ditandingi beregu Hong Kong
Hanya 26 minit sahaja diperlukan bekas juara dunia, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik untuk memastikan Malaysia meraih mata kedua dalam saingan Piala Thomas pagi tadi.
Piala Thomas: Lee Zii Jia beri mata pertama buat Malaysia!
Pemain perseorangan profesional negara, Lee Zii Jia berjaya meraih kemenangan ke atas Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-18, 21-18 dalam perlawanan Kumpulan D pagi tadi.
Filem Oppa beri kesedaran jenayah love scam
Filem kesedaran mengenai jenayah LOVE scam bertajuk 'Oppa' bakal menemui anda pada 9 May ini dengan membawa mesej tentang penipuan dalam talian yang seringkali menyasarkan golongan wanita.
[INFOGRAFIK] Calon Perpaduan | N.06 Kuala Kubu Baharu
Apa yang perlu anda tahu tentang calon Perpaduan bagi PRK N.06 Kuala Kubu Baharu.
[INFOGRAFIK] Calon Perikatan Nasional | N.06 Kuala Kubu Baharu
Apa yang perlu anda tahu tentang calon Perikatan Nasional bagi PRK N.06 Kuala Kubu Baharu.
Pertandingan empat penjuru N.06 Kuala Kubu Baharu
Untuk perkembangan lanjut berkaitan Pilihan Raya Kecil Kuala Kubu Baharu kita bersama rakan setugas, Firdaus Azil.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu saksikan pertandingan empat penjuru
Perkara itu disahkan oleh Pegawai Pengurus bagi PRK tersebut, Yuhanas Auree Kamaruddin di Pusat Penamaan Calon PRK Kuala Kubu Bharu, Dewan Serbaguna dan Kompleks Sukan Daerah Hulu Selangor kira-kira jam 10.38 pagi, pada Sabtu.
KKR, CIDB zahir hasrat hantar pekerja ke Nagasaki teroka kemahiran TVET
KKR menerusi agensinya Lembaga Pembangunan Industri Pembinaan Malaysia (CIDB) berhasrat memulakan penghantaran pekerja ke Nagasaki, Jepun menjelang suku keempat tahun ini.
Piala Thomas: Leong Jun Hao lakar kebangkitan, pastikan kemenangan Malaysia!
Leong Jun Hao melakar kebangkitan memastikan Malaysia memperoleh kemenangan ke atas wakil Hong Kong, Angus Ng Ka Long.